One day in the diagnostics department
by Wicketforever
Summary: Just something I wrote on the spur of the moment. This is a scene involving House and Chase "losely" based on the season 6 episode "Private Lives." Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

In this midst of another stream of endless clinic cases and medical mysteries House sat in his office with his feet propped up on the desk vigorously rubbing his leg.

The pain had magnified after the diagnostician had been sitting there for awhile which usually wouldn't have been a concern. Probably just a leg cramp or something of that sort but this sort of thing had been happening a lot recently.

If House didn't know better he would guessed that the increased pain meant that the already damaged thigh had started deteriorating which meant only one thing…..

In the midst of this conversation with his thoughts, House looked up to see Chase enter the room. The blonde Aussie had been down in the Clinic catching up on his hours and had come back to the department to grab his wallet before heading down to grab some lunch.

If it hadn't been for the look of pain plastered on his colleague's face at the very moment he walked by the office, Chase would have simply collected the item he had been looking for and continued on his way. However, Robert knew better then that.

He had known House long enough to know when something wasn't right. He also knew that the last thing he wanted to do was get involved but still something was telling the blonde surgeon to do just that.

"What do you want?"

The sheer lack of sarcasm alone indicated that Chase was right. However, not about to push it Robert simply had a seat in front of the desk and crossed his arms glaring at House with affirmation in his eyes.

This made House very uncomfortable.

"What do you want?."

He asked again this time with more conviction and annoyance in his voice to make the point clear.

"I need your help on a clinic case."

A lame excuse he knew but Chase knew House would easily see through it anyway. As if on cue, House shook his head and smirked at his former duckling turned friend and colleague.

"Nope."

"That's it nope? You don't even want to know the symptoms?."

"I've known you long enough to know that you're an excellent doctor fully capable of solving the simplest case. I've also known you long enough to know when your lying through your teeth. The light layer of sweat covering your brow is a dead give away."

_Damn._

Chase knew he had been cornered which meant that there was only one thing to do. Come clean.

"Want to grab some lunch?."

House arched an eye brow at this comment but kept that steely gaze in his eyes while staring Chase down.

"Since when are we friends?."

"We hung out a couple of nights ago."

"By force. All Wilson's idea. If you want a drinking buddy talk to him. Although, maybe you shouldn't. Jimmy could never hold his liquor."

Chase could tell House was in no mood to talk. Which was not an unusual occurrence but this time Robert wouldn't tale no for an answer.

Unfortunately, before this conversation could continue, House's face began to turn white as he squeezed his thigh tighter from underneath the table causing both of his hands to turn white to match his ghostly complexion.

"You okay?."

The beads of sweat covering House's brow were a clear cut sign. The diagnostician breathed in a bout of air and released it very quickly while closing his eyes for a moment and then returning his haggard gaze to Chase.

"Muscle Spasm…."

Closing his eyes again, House breathed in and out trying to calm himself down while releasing the hold he had on the already damaged right thigh. Thankfully, it seemed to work within minutes but the diagnostician knew he wasn't out of the woods.

Thankfully Chase had enough sense to locate the heating blanket that had been conveniently tucked away underneath the desk. Handing it to his boss, the former junior diagnostician waited for the older man to respond with some sarcastic remark but it never came. Instead, House accepted it graciously and placed the heating pad over the injured area welcoming the warmth with open arms.

Chase was to say the least baffled by this scene before him. It was common knowledge to everyone in the hospital that House had been suffering with chronic pain for years. It was also common knowledge that he never accepted help from anyone.

"Thanks."

Chase nodded and got up from the chair. Sensing it was time for him to leave.

Heading to the door, Robert was about to leave when House called him back still with the heating pad over his leg but with the color now fully returned to his face.

"Doctor Chase…."

"Yeah?."

House paused and then smirked to himself with the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Do you play poker?."

(I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to keep going with this. It all depends on the response I get from you the reading public. Let me know what you think. Wicket forever.)


	2. Soft

(Thanks to those of you who have reviewed my first chapter of "One day in the diagnostics department…" I haven't written in awhile so it was a nice come back. Anyway, here's the latest chapter. Read on and enjoy!)

That night when House came home from work. He wore a satisfied grin on his face. The kind of look that to anyone else would have been a nice surprise but for his roommate and best friend James Wilson it was a sign of trouble.

"What did you do?."

From his position in the sofa, the oncologist watched the older man limp over to the kitchen to pour himself a celebratory drink. True, since his stay at Mayfield House hadn't touch a drop of alcohol which meant that he was now celebrating the success he'd had that day by drinking out of the carton and wiping his mouth with his shirt sleeve.

"Nothing."

"Right. "

Rolling his eyes at this comment House put the milk away, limped over to the living room and had a seat on the sofa next to Wilson.

Shrugging to himself, the diagnostician replied in his most sincere voice.

"I took your advice."

"Which was?."

That was when House decided to have a little fun with his best friend. Sitting up to reach his full height, Greg cleared his throat and began to go into his best "Wilson" impersonation which he'd secretly been working on for months now.

"Your alone House. You've been alone your whole life. Its time you got out there and started meeting people. You got to start living life. That's why I thought speed dating was a good idea but I was wrong and you were right."

The mere mention of the speed dating fiasco made Wilson arch his eye brows and shoot his friend a death glare which didn't escape House's notice.

"Alright, maybe I added the last part for emphasis but you get my point right?."

"Unfortunately I do…so, what exactly happened?."

This question hung in the air for a moment while House collected himself and tried to decide which parts of the story to omit when telling it out loud. Wilson didn't need to know about his leg flaring up and he certainly didn't need to know about the heating pad but rather then debate about it any longer House dove in.

"I invited Chase to poker night next week."

Wilson hadn't been expecting that. It wasn't very often House did something with his team outside of work. In fact, he never did anything with his minions outside of work. This was different but this was good.

"That was very nice of you."

"Oh shut up…I didn't invite the wombat to be nice. I invited him because…."

_Careful House. Don't dig yourself into a corner._

"…because he did me a favor today."

Now that the cat was out of the bag there was nothing to do but wait until the whole thing blew up in his face. House knew Wilson wouldn't let this one slide in fact, he hoped he wouldn't let this one slide just so the older man could mock him for it later.

But that plan back fired. Instead of mocking him for what had been said, Wilson simply smirked to himself while getting up from the couch.

"As I said before…very nice."

Once the oncologist had left the room, House leaned back against the couch cushion and sighed to himself while resting his feet on the coffee table and letting this thought run through his head with a sigh.

"Damn. I have gotten soft."


	3. The ties that bond

The next morning House walked into the conference room only to find it empty apart from a few empty coffee mugs and pieces of crumpled paper laying abandoned on the desk.

_Jeez, _House thought to himself aloud _and I thought I was a slob._

"You are."

Looking up to see Cuddy enter the room, House arched an eye brow and glared at the dean of medicine while gesturing towards the blue file she held firmly in hand.

"What do you got for me boss?."

Surprised by the lack of sarcasm made towards her comment, Cuddy held back while crossing arms over chest.

"That's it? No good morning _cuddles_ _my_ don't the girls look perky today?"

At this comment, House held Cuddy's gaze a moment while shrugging to himself while having a seat by the table.

"I haven't had my coffee yet this morning. What do you got for me?."

Clearly still miffed by her employee's sudden professional demeanor Cuddy sighed while going into detail.

"Sixty Two Year old priest who collapsed while giving Sunday sermon to his church group last weekend. The EMT report showed that the fall may have been caused by…."

House had stopped listening the minute Cuddy mentioned the patient was a priest. There was something about this that seemed all too familiar. However, the diagnostician was brought out his thoughts by the sound of Cuddy's voice brining him out of it with full force.

"_House_, _focus_, You can day dream to yourself all you want after work. (Sigh) Do you want the case or not?."

At this question House shook his head and closed his eye for a moment. Allowing the memories to come rushing back to him. There was a reason this case seemed all too familiar to him and it was painfully obvious why.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said no."

There was silence at this point in this conversation as Cuddy tried to make sense of what she had just been told. House never turned down a case without a reasonable explanation and "no" wasn't good enough.

"Why not?."

At this question House sighed to himself while looking down at the floor a moment before looking back up at Cuddy.

"I make it a point never to treat members of my own family."

* * *

Meanwhile, Chase and Thirteen were in the locker room getting themselves situated before heading on upstairs and over to the diagnostics department.

There was a comfortable silence in the room which neither one wanted to disturb but unfortunately, Taube hadn't gotten that memo.

The plastic surgeon entered the room and at the sight of Chase and Thirteen caused the big nose doctor to smirk to himself.

"Aw, isn't that sweet."

Turning around to face their colleague, both members of the team shot Taube a glare.

"What are you talking about?."

"You two together. I can't believe I've never noticed it before….it's a perfect match!."

At this comment, both thirteen and Chase exchanged a look while replying in unison.

"_Shut Up."_

"I knew it. You even sound a like!."

Having had enough of this early morning practical joke the two sane members of the diagnostics team made their way out of the locker room and up to the second floor but not without Taube humming "here comes the bride" the whole way there.

* * *

Thankfully the humming stopped by the time the trio reached the diagnostics department, which was good news for everyone. Peering in through the glass doors leading into the conference room, the team was surprised to find it empty with no trace of House anywhere to be seen.

"Where is he?."


End file.
